Thanks for shedding some light on the recent USC research ("Scientists Grapple over Marijuana's Effect on Immune System," Dec. 15). Unfortunately, cannabis never gets the credit it deserves. This "drug" is a proven source of medicine for countless ailments that currently afflict our injured, disabled and elderly populations. Moreover, it is completely safe for human use, in contrast to many commonly prescribed medicines that Big Pharma is pumping out these days.

The mere activation of the endocannabinoid system positively affects our overall health and well-being and can drastically improve the quality of life for unwell individuals. Thanks to dedicated researchers around the world, it is finally impossible to deny the medicinal potential of the cannabis plant.

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Coalition leader: 'Kids are looking for ways to get high. It's nothing new.'

YORK -- More than a month ago, a Fort Mill teen played Russian roulette with her life.

"A beautiful 17-year-old had taken two hits of "Mary Joy," York County Sheriff Bruce Bryant said Tuesday.

Those hits of Mary Joy, one of several names for synthetic marijuana, made the teen so ill she wound up in the hospital.

"She was incoherent and exhibiting extreme paranoia and anxiety, involuntary muscle jerking and elevated heart rate and blood pressure," Bryant said. "The girl could have died."

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Chemical compounds in marijuana can suppress the body's immune functions - potentially speeding the growth of some cancers but possibly helping in the fight against arthritis, multiple sclerosis or allergies.

The good-news, bad-news findings were published in this month's European Journal of Immunology, based on a study led by USC researcher Prakash Nagarkatti. An immunologist who has been exploring the potential of cannabis for eight years, Nagarkatti refers to the findings as "a double-edged sword."

Nagarkatti's earlier studies dealt mostly with marijuana's potential to treat leukemia. The latest report, at first glance, seems to contradict his earlier findings. But Nagarkatti says the seeming contradiction just emphasizes the complexities of both marijuana and cancer.

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Local agencies say they follow law, not interested in intrusion

New technology is being used to give law enforcement agencies a leg up in fighting crime - advancements that have elsewhere raised tricky privacy issues that in some cases remain unresolved by the courts.

Greenville County sheriff's deputies are planning to spend $225,000 in federal money on a new thermal-imaging camera that would be installed on a helicopter to help search for suspects and missing people on the ground.

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Drug Enforcement Administration staffers must be asking themselves, "Where is Barbara Billingsley when you need her?" Billingsley is most famous for playing the mother in "Leave it to Beaver," but the DEA doesn't need her to make boys toe the line.

The agency needs her because of the talent she so famously showcased in the movie "Airplane" when she said: "Oh, stewardess, I speak jive."

Apparently, DEA agents don't speak jive themselves, but some of the folks they are conducting surveillance on do. That's why, according to a story by The Associated Press, the DEA is looking to hire nine "ebonics" translators to help interpret wiretapped conversations between suspected drug dealers.

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Authorities Call Bust A Local Record

Horry County police found an estimated $12 million worth of heroin and other drugs in the Myrtle Beach area in what the police department is calling its largest seizure of the drug to date.

The drugs were found recently after an investigation led police to a home in the Arrowhead subdivision in the Myrtle Beach section of the county. Sgt. Robert Kegler, spokesman for the Horry County Police Department did not report that anyone was arrested at the time of the seizure.

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Mum's The Word When It Comes To Palmetto State Pot Reform

The seeds of change for legalizing medical marijuana are being planted from coast to coast with states such as Washington, Oregon, Vermont and New Jersey speaking out, declaring themselves official card-carrying members of the movement. Marijuana dispensaries are dotted throughout the cities of Santa Barbara, Calif., and Colorado Springs, Colo., while the Garden State's Trenton and Newark are gearing up for their first harvest of legally grown marijuana to be distributed in dispensaries this fall. Buying it legally is becoming a part of America's landscape, in much the same way local corner stores have.

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Lawmakers and Gov. Mark Sanford deserve credit for passing and signing a sentencing reform bill that this state needed in order to make residents safer and save taxpayers money.

The bill enacts reforms that mirror the recommendations of the South Carolina Sentencing Reform Commission that was empanelled by lawmakers. The goal of the reforms is to save taxpayers money, help the Corrections Department run more efficiently, equip nonviolent offenders with the skills they need to become productive citizens and ensure that the state's prisons have room for the most dangerous offenders.

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COLUMBIA, S.C. =AD A sentencing reform measure signed into law Wednesday was praised by South Carolina lawmakers as getting smart on crime and "soft" on taxpayers.

The law is designed to put fewer people in prison on minor offenses, and instead help them turn their lives around through improved oversight and training while on parole. The sentencing changes apply to people arrested Wednesday and thereafter.

"Unless we're going to build a bunch more jails, we've got to look at alternatives," Republican Gov. Mark Sanford said before signing off on it. "This bill does that."

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Methamphetamine, an illicit drug that is easily and cheaply produced, remains a deeply entrenched problem in the Southern United States. The 2009 National Drug Intelligence Center's National Drug Threat Survey showed 22.8 percent of state and local agencies in the Southeast "reported meth as their greatest drug threat," second only to cocaine.

Former U.S. Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey called meth "one of the worst drug menaces ever to threaten America, associated with paranoia, stroke, heart attack, and permanent brain damage, leaving a trail of crime and death." Despite its dangers, 10.4 million Americans age 12 and older have tried methamphetamine at least once, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

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Greenville County Schools would consider implementing a drug testing for student athletes "if a need is expressed and documented by the principal, school athletic director, coaches" and the community, spokesman Oby Lyles says.

Bill Utsey, director of athletics in Greenville County Schools, he thinks it would be well worth the $5,000 to $10,000 a year he estimates it would cost.

However, in a tight budget year, there hasn't been any community support for implementing such a program, he says.

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In response to an April 7 letter concerning legalizing recreational drugs: I fully concur with the writer's recommendation. While serving in Korea in the '50s, we were initially issued one can of beer per man per day. The Women's Christian Temperance Union pressured the Department of Defense to stop this ration.

The result? Men bought beer on the local market. These bottles often contained wood alcohol and urine, which caused men to go blind or out of their minds, making them casualties we couldn't afford.

Ill-considered decisions by do-gooders often create extreme detrimental societal difficulties.

William H. Kastner

Col., U.S. Army (Retired)

Furman Drive

Charleston

[end]

Police officers in South Carolina no longer need a warrant to search people on probation and parole, following a second, successful attempt Wednesday in the House to override Republican Gov. Mark Sanford's veto.

A single-vote margin made the measure law,. It takes effect immediately.

One of the deciding votes came from Rep. Joe McEachern, a Richland County Democrat and former police officer.

McEachern voted against the Legislative Black Caucus, who, along with conservative and libertarian Republicans, opposed the measure.

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Research on Psychedelic Drug Prescriptions Not Solution to Mental, Physical Problems

Thank God for the '60s and all it brought to American history books: bell-bottoms, tie-dye, troll dolls, Chinese fire drills, Woodstock, Twister, lava lamps, free love and LSD; God Bless America.

Though many of these fads have faded out - some that are not missed, i.e., the bouffant hairdo and platform shoes - hallucinogens are coming back for another trip ... no pun intended.

Once taboo, hallucinogens are now being tested for medicinal purposes, as they are thought to cure the negative side effects of depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, life-threatening anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and addiction to illegal substances. Just a thought, but how are people suffering from cocaine addiction going to get better by replacing their kilos with shrooms or LSD? Kind of an oxymoron, don't you think?

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South Carolina would opt out of a federal mandate requiring driver's license suspensions for all persons convicted of drug offenses, under a resolution approved by the Senate on Tuesday.

The opt out, which must be agreed to by the governor and the full General Assembly, would allow the state to continue receiving federal transportation funds.

Federal law requires states to enact laws suspending driving privileges for anyone convicted of drug offenses, whether the offense was traffic related or not, and without regard to the age of the offender.

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People without children might not care so much about public education (although they should).

And people who have solid jobs might not be so distressed about unemployment (although they should be, too).

But everyone in South Carolina is vulnerable to crime -- from a stolen bicycle to a drive-by shooting. And everyone should encourage the state House of Representatives to vote in favor of a Senate bill that would reform criminal sentencing.

The comprehensive, bipartisan bill aims to preserve public safety and reduce crime -- two worthy goals. To do that, it would provide consistency in sentencing classifications and assign punishments proportional for the offenses committed.

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The Senate has wisely given its approval to a sentencing reform bill that largely mirrors recommendations by a sentencing reform commission established last year by the Legislature.

The House should follow suit on this bill that would save taxpayers money, help the Corrections Department run more efficiently and help equip nonviolent offenders with the skills they need to become productive citizens.

Provisions in this lengthy bill would further define violent and nonviolent crimes, streamline sentencing to ensure there is room in state prisons for the most violent offenders, and reduce sentences for some nonviolent crimes. In addition, the bill would establish options for community-based treatment and programs such as the drug courts that have worked in Greenville.

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Violent cartels that import drugs from Mexico could be looking to strengthen their presence in South Carolina as a crackdown drives them out of their distribution hub in Atlanta.

The gangs could bring a whole new set of problems - including shootouts with police -- to a state plagued with the nation's second-highest violent crime rate.

Their drugs are already flowing through Greenville by way of Interstate 85 and heading for destinations all over the East Coast, authorities said.

As local, state and federal authorities seek to turn up the heat, it isn't unusual for them to make huge busts in the Atlanta area.

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I'm in favor of the Department of Corrections releasing nonviolent inmates early if it will help save money. Likewise, counties might also be able to trim from their budgets the costs of housing inmates awaiting trial.

State law (Section 17-23-90) allows for inmates awaiting trials in county jails to petition for their release if not indicted and brought to trial within two terms of court following their arrest. This means most inmates awaiting trial could petition for their release after just a few months in jail. Seeing how there are many pre-trial detainees who languish in jail for a year or more waiting to go to trial, it seems obvious that counties could save money if more pre-trial detainees knew about this statute.

Perhaps it's time to pass a law mandating that magistrates and Circuit Court judges inform defendants at their bail hearings of their right to petition for their release under this statute.

Irmo

[end]

A bill designed to reduce the number of people going to jail in South Carolina for minor offenses and let more people out on parole received key approval Thursday.

The bill approved by the Senate is expected to save taxpayers money while providing improved oversight and training of nonviolent offenders. Proponents said it will ensure there's prison space for high-risk, violent criminals, and that they'll serve longer prison terms.

People convicted of nonviolent crimes account for nearly half of the state's 25,000 inmates, and nearly one in five inmates are imprisoned for drug crimes, according to the commission's February report.

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